Research Article
Experiences of Visible Minority
Librarians and Students in Canada from the ViMLoC Mentorship Program
Yanli Li
Business and Economics Librarian
Wilfrid Laurier University Library
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Email: yli@wlu.ca
Valentina Ly
Research Librarian
University of Ottawa Library
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Email: vly@uottawa.ca
Xuemei Li
Data Services Librarian
York University Library
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Email: lixuemei@yorku.ca
Received: 13 Feb. 2023 Accepted: 21 June 2023
2023 Li, Ly, and Li. This is an Open
Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons‐Attribution‐Noncommercial‐Share Alike License 4.0
International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial
purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the
same or similar license to this one.
DOI: 10.18438/eblip30325
Abstract
Objective – The purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of mentors
and mentees in the formal mentorship program offered by the Visible Minority
Librarians of Canada Network (ViMLoC) from 2018-2022. Findings from this
research will help mentors and mentees understand how to establish an effective
mentoring relationship. Professional library associations and libraries can
also gain valuable insights to support the visible minority library
professionals within their own mentorship programs.
Methods – Between
2018 and 2022, 113 mentors and 145 mentees participated in four sessions of the
ViMLoC mentorship program. The ViMLoC Mentorship Committee designed and
delivered a survey for mentors and a survey for mentees at the end of each
session. Over four sessions, 81 mentors and 82 mentees completed the surveys,
representing a 72% and 57% completion rate, respectively. Fisher's Exact Tests
were performed to examine if there were significant differences between mentors
and mentees in their perceptions regarding ease of communication, relationship,
helpfulness of mentorship, likeliness of keeping in contact, and importance of
having a visible minority partner.
Results – The
mentees perceived mentoring support to be more helpful than the mentors
perceived it themselves. The mentees were more likely to keep in contact with
their mentors beyond the mentorship program while the mentors did not show as
much interest. The mentees who had a positive experience from the formal
mentorship program were found to be more likely to mentor others in the future,
whereas the same effect did not hold true for the mentors. On the other hand,
some findings were the same for both mentors and mentees. Both stated that
effective communication would facilitate a good mentoring relationship, which
in turn, would lead to positive outcomes and greater likelihood of keeping in
contact beyond the mentoring program. There was also consensus of opinion about
the most important areas of mentoring support and some essential skills for
building a successful mentoring relationship.
Conclusion – This research contributes to the literature by using an empirical
research method and comparative analyses of the experiences between mentors and
mentees over four sessions of the ViMLoC mentorship program. The study focuses
on the perceptions of participants regarding their communication, relationship,
helpfulness of mentorship, associations between their past and present
mentoring experiences, areas of support, importance of having a visible
minority partner, and essential skills for building a successful mentoring
relationship. Mentors and mentees differed significantly in how they perceived
the helpfulness of mentorship support and how likely they would like to
maintain the ties beyond the program. For both sides, effective and easy communication
was found to be critical for building a good mentoring relationship and
achieving a satisfactory experience.
Introduction
The purpose of
this research is to examine the experiences of mentors and mentees who have
participated in the formal mentorship program offered by the Visible Minority
Librarians of Canada Network (ViMLoC). This study focuses on the perceptions of
participants regarding their communication, relationship, helpfulness of
mentorship, associations between their past and present mentoring experiences,
areas of support, importance of having a visible minority (VM) partner, and
essential skills for building a successful mentoring relationship. There are
limited quantitative studies that address formal mentoring relationships in the
field of librarianship, and the existing literature primarily focuses on
American settings (Jordan, 2019). This empirical study compares the experiences
of mentors and mentees, which is rarely seen in other mentorship research.
Findings from this paper will help mentors and mentees understand how to
establish an effective mentoring relationship. Professional library
associations and libraries can also gain valuable insights to support the
visible minority library professionals within their own mentorship programs,
especially in regions where the populations are predominantly Caucasian.
ViMLoC formed in
2012 with a mission to connect, engage, and support visible minority librarians
in Canada. The Employment Equity Act defines visible minorities (VMs) as
“persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or
non-white in colour” (Government of Canada, 2021). Maha Kumaran and Heather Cai
(2015) conducted the first ViMLoC survey in 2013 which reported that VM
librarians lacked mentorship and networking opportunities with other minorities
in the country. Accordingly, the ViMLoC mentorship program was inaugurated in
2013 and on an ongoing basis from 2013-2015 nine pairs were matched, becoming
the first formal mentorship program for VM librarians to be mentored by VM
librarians in Canada (Kumaran, 2013). Many of the formal mentorship programs
available for librarians require association fees, are limited to a small
geographic area, or are tied with other limited opportunities like residency
programs, which are mostly seen at American institutions (Garrison, 2020;
Harper, 2020). One reason for establishing ViMLoC was to improve informal
professional connections (Majekodunmi, 2013); the mentorship program is a
formal way of creating these networking opportunities. ViMLoC is free of charge
and participation in the mentorship program is open to librarians and Master of
Library and Information Science (MLIS) students across Canada who identify as
VMs.
After a hiatus,
the ViMLoC mentorship program was reinitiated in 2018. The ViMLoC Mentorship
Committee (referred to as “the Committee”) recruited VM librarians at every
career stage to be mentors and paired them with mentees. Each session ran for
two months (October-November in 2018, and May-June in 2020, 2021, 2022). The
2018 session occurred at the end of the year from November to December. After
seeing the high demand for visible minorities to mentor each other, the
Committee found there was merit to continuing the mentorship program. They
observed that 58% of the mentees were students and 40% of mentors worked in an
academic library. The Committee decided that offering a mentorship program from
May to June would best suit academic work schedules and be ideal for students
graduating from their programs. Repeating the mentorship program in May-June
2019 would be too soon after the 2018 session closed, so the Committee decided
to postpone the next session until May-June 2020; the subsequent sessions in 2021
and 2022 followed the same timeline. A survey was sent separately to mentors
and mentees at the end of each session. The survey responses were used to
assess the mentorship program and provided rich information about the
mentorship experiences of the participants. The data collected therein formed
the basis of this research.
Literature Review
Barriers for VMs in Librarianship
VMs in the
library profession can face additional invisible obstacles that their Caucasian
counterparts may not. Many of these obstacles have been explained in the
literature. For example, Gohr (2017) identified that new library professionals
looking for their first position in a competitive job market might have to take
on unpaid work experiences to build up their CV. However, for VMs, taking on
unpaid work is considered a privilege and financial barrier that their
Caucasian counterparts might not face as often.
Even after
getting a library job, there are multiple descriptions of workplace barriers
for VM librarians in the literature. A consistently cited barrier is that VM
librarians need to assimilate themselves into a Caucasian-dominated work
culture (Brown et al., 2018; Gohr, 2017; Lee & Morfitt, 2020). The result,
according to Brown et al. (2018), is that VM librarians feel a pressure to
police how they present themselves through their words, behaviour, and
appearance, which can cause personal anguish. For instance, research found that
38.6% of VM academic librarians “did not feel free to speak their mind and
express their views openly,” which adds to that stifling of their true selves
(Kandiuk, 2014, p. 510).
While fitting in
is not the only option, VM librarians who do not conform may face more
microaggressions in the workplace (Brown et al., 2018). Others described how
this work situation could amplify feelings of imposter syndrome (Farrell et
al., 2017; Lee & Morfitt, 2020). Brown et al. (2018), Hathcock (2015),
Johnson (2007), and Thornton (2001) all discussed the feeling of loneliness in
the workplace, either from the physical isolation at work events or from the
emotional isolation of pretending to fit in. Hathcock (2015) further elaborated
on the loneliness of pretending to fit into a structure of White librarianship
and needing someone, like a role model or mentor, to show them how to do so. In
Thornton’s (2001) study of Black female librarians in the US, she determined
that many respondents felt some level of isolation and that was one source for
low levels of job satisfaction. Furthermore, 71% of Black female librarians had
experienced some level of racial discrimination at work, which compounded with
feelings of isolation and negatively impacted morale. Comparatively, in a
Canadian academic setting, Kandiuk (2014) reported that only 42.8% of the VM
academic librarians found that their colleagues were welcoming or somewhat
welcoming to difference and diversity, 23.3% were not or somewhat treated with
respect and as an equal member, and 16.1% felt they were not or only somewhat
valued by work colleagues for their knowledge and work contributions. These
seemingly common experiences of isolation for VMs in libraries can lead to low
morale and negative work environments that make them want to leave the job
and/or the profession altogether (Kendrick & Damasco, 2019; Olivas, 2014;
Thornton, 2001).
Mentorship Identified as a Solution
When referencing
all the barriers and negative experiences of being a culturally diverse library
professional, a common solution proposed by VM librarians throughout the
literature was mentorship. For example, in Johnson’s (2016) interviews of
academic librarians of colour, respondents indicated that a lack of mentorship
was a barrier to their progress in their career and that any form of mentoring
or networking was better than nothing. Echoing that sentiment, in an open-ended
question about how their workplace could support VM librarians in Canadian
academic institutions, the most common survey response was having mentorship
and that “equity-related mentoring” opportunities to support VM librarians
needed to be created (Kandiuk, 2014). Moreover, Olivas (2014) found that many
VM study participants needed to seek mentorship opportunities beyond their
institution because what they received from their library was not adequate.
Many
studies focus on mentoring students before or after LIS (library and
information science) programs to increase the number of VM students and graduates,
which in turn, will increase representation and diverse candidate pool.
Montiel-Overall and Littletree (2010) spoke of a specific program to recruit
and ensure graduation of Latino and Native American in an LIS program; one of
the methods used to ensure high retention was mentorship. McCook and Lippincott
(1997) analyzed American statistics in the 1980s to 1990s to find that LIS
schools that graduated a higher number of diverse students employed mentoring
as a recruitment strategy. The ViMLoC mentorship program also welcomed current
MLIS students who identified as VM to apply as mentees, providing them with an
opportunity to build a professional network and access other resources that
ViMLoC can provide.
Mentorship Benefits for VMs
Since
mentorship has often been proposed as a solution to combat the barriers in the
profession, the benefits of mentorship for VM librarians in these circumstances
need to be elaborated. Some of the more obvious benefits of VM mentorship
listed in the literature are related to getting advice from experts with lived
experience, refining their CV, and career planning and progression (Alston,
2017; Bonnette, 2004; Boyd et al., 2017). However, considering the
circumstances, there is great emphasis on emotional support that mentors have
provided. For example, it could be “a shoulder to cry on, a relatable voice,
and honesty” (Alston, 2017, p. 159). It could also be social supports through
“socialization into the profession” (Boyd et al., 2017, p. 492), or “demystifying
and interpreting library culture and politics and assisting the mentee with
tips on how to work within the given institutional structure,” along with
connecting them with people within their network (Moore et al., 2008, p. 76).
Overall, this blend of practical advice, along with psychosocial support from
mentors has been found to improve job satisfaction for VM librarians (Alston,
2017).
Benefits of VM Mentors
Oftentimes, VM
mentees are paired with Caucasian mentors due to the imbalance of
representation within the profession (Ford, 2018). Many have noted that this
can be problematic as VM mentees may feel the pressure to assimilate more into
the dominant culture of the profession and that Caucasian mentors cannot
provide VM mentees with supports that a VM mentor could (Brown et al., 2018;
Hathcock, 2015). While the effect of mentorship for VMs is profound, it has
been suggested in the literature that having VM mentors providing mentorship to
VM mentees can amplify the benefit. For example, Espinal et al. (2018)
suggested how a mentoring program specifically for VM librarians would be
beneficial to alleviate some of the pressure put on them in a White-dominated profession.
For VM LIS students that had VM mentors, they found that there was a “shared
understanding of their experience” (Hussey, 2006, p. 76) and that VM mentors
can help them navigate through difficult situations based on their own lived
experiences (Hussey, 2006). From their national survey and qualitative
semi-structured interviews of Chinese American librarians, Ruan and Liu (2017)
found that one of the major themes from respondents was mentorship. They
revealed respondents’ praises for the Chinese American Librarians Association
(CALA) mentorship program where Chinese American librarians mentored each
other. They noted that a benefit of VM mentors was providing assistance to
overcome communication and other cultural barriers. Similarly, Moore et al. (2008)
touched upon dealing with situations or issues that would be unique to VMs in
the profession and how the VM mentor could provide advice about how to deal
with it effectively. Furthermore, it has been noted that people from
nonminority groups might not detect microaggressions the way a racialized
person might, but VM mentors are able to validate situations of
microaggressions and provide the VM mentee with reassurance of their
experiences (Alabi, 2015). Anecdotally, Cho (2014) examined his experiences with
other Asian librarian mentors. He found that having VM mentors benefitted him
as it gave him the opportunity to share their experiences together and
reflected upon them. Not only did it benefit the VM mentees, a study of VM
mentors at academic libraries found that mentoring new librarians was
professionally rewarding and increased the VM librarian’s likelihood of
pursuing managerial roles (Bugg, 2016).
While there are
many benefits to be gained from VM mentors, a negative aspect of VMs mentoring
VMs is that there are so few mentors available, especially those with
managerial experiences (Hoffman, 2014; Moore et al., 2008). Thus, extra burden
is placed on VM mentors, especially when mentorship does not count as credited
work. For example, Cooke and Sánchez (2019) highlighted that mentorship was
unpaid volunteer work and did not contribute towards tenure application for
academic librarians. Nevertheless, some VM librarians still took on the added
task of mentorship to ensure the growth of diversity in the profession (Harper,
2020; VanScoy & Bright, 2017).
Communication in a Mentoring Relationship
The literature
about mentoring programs for VMs in libraries focuses more on practical
guidelines that highlight the importance of communication, which is pivotal to
building and maintaining the relationship. For example, the guidance provided
states that regular contact and showing concern allows the VM mentee to openly
share and discuss personal concerns with candour (Abdullahi, 1992; Hernandez,
1994). Likewise, in Harrington and Marshall (2014), the respondents from
Canadian academic libraries highly rated the importance of the following
mentorship activities: sharing experiences, sharing confidential information,
and actively listening to concerns. All these elements go into building a
mentoring relationship through communication. Anecdotally, Olivas and Ma (2009)
described their positive mentoring relationship as VM librarians due to their
“[c]lear communication with each other, on a continual basis” (p. 6) which they
did through emails and phone calls to discuss their professional experiences.
Communication
issues in mentorship can occur due to cross-cultural and intergenerational
differences, among many. Amongst VM librarians there are many factors that can
lead to a breakdown in communication, which becomes a challenge for the
mentoring pair. For example, among the 17 challenges to mentorship listed in
Adekoya and Fasae’s (2021) study of academic librarians in Nigeria,
“ineffective meetings, communication and feedback between the mentor and
mentee” ranked fourth highest. In another study, a respondent identified issues
with communication for the breakdown with their mentor, which created a
negative mentorship experience (Zhang et al., 2007).
Methods
Survey Design and Delivery
To gather
information about the participants’ mentoring experiences and to help improve
the ViMLoC mentorship program, the ViMLoC Mentorship Committee designed and
delivered a survey for mentors and mentees separately at the end of each
session. After ethics approvals from Wilfrid Laurier University and York
University, online survey questionnaires were created using Qualtrics XM. Nine
questions from the surveys used in the first 2013 ViMLoC mentorship session
were slightly updated. An additional 15 new questions were included in the
survey for mentees and mentors respectively, with the researchers referring to
other studies to inform the new questions (Goodsett & Walsh, 2015;
Harrington & Marshall, 2014). The Mentorship Committee also consulted other
ViMLoC committee members for feedback. The survey links were sent to mentors
and mentees via email. The surveys remained open for one month with a reminder
email sent two weeks before the deadline. An informed consent letter was
provided at the start of the survey, which indicated that the participants
could choose not to participate, withdraw at any point, or skip any questions
in the survey. All responses were collected anonymously.
During the
mentorship program, when there was a shortage of mentors or when a mentor had
the expertise that could benefit more than one mentee, one mentor could be
approached to be matched with two mentees. As such, the questionnaires for
mentors were slightly different depending on how many mentees were mentored by
them. The survey for mentors who assisted one mentee contained six
multiple-choice questions about communication, eight multiple-choice questions
about interaction, three multiple-choice questions and one open-ended question
about mentorship experience, and one multiple-choice question and three
open-ended questions about mentorship program assessment (Appendix A). In the survey for mentors who assisted
two mentees, the questions about communication and interactions (Q4-17 in
Appendix A) with the first mentee were repeated for the second mentee. The
survey for mentees included six multiple-choice questions about communication,
eight multiple-choice questions about interaction, two multiple-choice questions
and one open-ended question about mentorship experience, and two
multiple-choice questions and three open-ended questions about mentorship
program assessment (Appendix B).
Data Analysis
The survey
questions were designed to allow comparison of experiences between mentors and
mentees in the program. Four questions (Q13-16) from the mentor survey
(Appendix A) and the mentee survey (Appendix B) were similar, with minor
changes in the wording for the target audience. For instance, in the question
about ease of communication, the mentors were asked “How easy was communication
with your mentee?” This question was reworded for mentees to read “How easy was
communication with your mentor?” Similarly, this research compared the
perceptions of mentors and mentees regarding how they felt about their
relationship with their mentoring partner (mentoring relationship), how helpful
the mentor was in assisting their mentee (helpfulness of mentorship), and how
likely they would connect beyond the program (likeliness of keeping in
contact). These indicators were all measured using a 5-point Likert Scale. For
instance, the response options for the question about ease of communication
included “Very Easy,” “Easy,” “Moderately Easy,” “Difficult,” and “Very
Difficult.”
Moreover,
in-depth analyses were conducted regarding the associations between four items:
ease of communication, mentoring relationship, helpfulness of mentorship, and
likeliness of keeping in contact. This study also examined the associations
between the respondents’ present and previous mentorship experience, and
associations between their present experience and intentions to mentor in the
future. These analyses were based on Fisher's Exact Test, a statistical test
used to determine whether there is a significant association between two
categorical variables if 20% or more of the cells in the contingency tables
have expected frequencies less than five. The Freeman-Halton Extension of the
Fisher's Exact Test for more than 2 x 2 (two-row by two-column) contingency
tables was employed (Ibraheem & Devine, 2013; Kim, 2017). STATA 13 was used
for all data analyses. For the open-ended questions about the skills that are
important for a successful relationship and the most satisfying aspect of the
ViMLoC mentoring program, answers from respondents were coded inductively by
one researcher, with several answers having multiple elements listed, thus
given multiple codes. Subsequently, some codes were aggregated due to
similarity. Another assessment of the responses and second review of the code
assignments was completed. Frequencies for each code were calculated for the
mentor and mentee groups separately.
ViMLoC Mentorship Program Participants and Survey Respondents
From 2018 to
2022, 113 mentors and 145 mentees participated in the ViMLoC mentorship
program. Amongst mentors, the largest three ethnicities were Chinese (38%,
n=43), South Asian (17%, n=19), and Black (10%, n=11). Nearly 60% (n=64) were
working at academic libraries, followed by public libraries (22%, n=25), and
special libraries (17%, n=19). Their experience as a librarian ranged from 2-29
years. Of the 113 mentors, 24% (n=27) were in management positions. Regarding
mentees, Chinese (21%, n=31), South Asian (20%, n=29), and Black (15%, n=22)
were also the most prevalent minorities. Over half the mentees (55%, n=80) were
library school students. This mirrored the finding of Harrington and Marshall
(2014), where library school students were found to expect mentorship
opportunities more than librarians. Those who had librarian experience for less
than five years made up 26% (n=38). Among the mentees, 9% (n=13) had a master's
degree in librarianship from outside Canada. It was noted that a mentor or
mentee might engage in more than one mentoring session, and a mentee might also
serve as a mentor either in different sessions or even within the same session.
The counts and percentages presented above included all repeat participants. As
shown in Table 1, there were 73 participants in 2018, with the greatest number
of mentees (n=48) across the four sessions, which reflected the pressing needs
of visible minority mentees after a few gap years since the first ViMLoC
mentorship program was launched in 2013. The number of participants experienced
a dramatic drop in 2020 due to COVID-19 and bounced back in 2021 and 2022.
Table 1
ViMLoC
Mentorship Program Participants and Survey Respondents
|
Year |
Program Participants |
Survey Respondents |
Survey Completion Rates |
|||
|
Mentors |
Mentees |
Mentors |
Mentees |
Mentors |
Mentees |
|
|
2018 |
25 |
48 |
18 (16) |
25 |
72% |
52% |
|
2020 |
24 |
26 |
16 (2) |
20 |
67% |
77% |
|
2021 |
33 |
39 |
25 (8) |
22 |
76% |
56% |
|
2022 |
31 |
32 |
22 (1) |
15 |
71% |
47% |
|
Total |
113 |
145 |
81 (27) |
82 |
72% |
57% |
Note: The number
in brackets indicates the number of mentors who assisted two mentees.
In total, 81
mentors and 82 mentees completed the surveys, representing a 72% and 57%
completion rate, respectively. Although more mentees participated in the
mentorship program, they had a lower survey completion rate compared to mentors
in all the years, except in 2020 (see Table 1). We analyzed 190 responses,
including 108 responses from mentors and 82 responses from mentees. All
questions were optional, therefore the number of responses for individual
questions varied.
Results
Mentoring Support Activities
The mentees were
asked, “What aspects did your mentor help you with?” This question was reworded
for the mentors to read, “What aspects did you help your mentee with?” Each
group was provided with a list of 20 mentoring support activities to choose
whatever aspects they provided as mentors or received as mentees. Both groups
identified the same five areas of mentorship support as their top experiences:
sharing professional experience, providing encouragement, providing career
counselling, sharing experience about the day-to-day work life, and addressing
professional concerns (Figure 1).
Figure 1
Most reported
five mentoring support activities.
The perspectives
of mentors and mentees were separately analyzed regarding four items: ease of
communication, mentoring relationship, helpfulness of mentorship, and
likeliness of keeping in contact beyond the program. Fisher's Exact Tests were
further conducted to examine if mentors and mentees significantly differed in
their perceptions of each aspect.
Ease of Communication
The mentoring
pairs communicated in various ways: email, video chat, online chat/instant
messaging, in-person, and telephone. Email and video chat were reported as the
most effective methods of communication. This could be due to the COVID-19
pandemic that made in-person interactions difficult or impossible. The survey
respondents were asked how easy their communication was with the mentoring
partner. Of the 107 responses from mentors, 82% (n=88) indicated “very easy” or
“easy” compared to 88% (n=72) of the 82 responses from the mentees. Meanwhile,
6% (n=6) of the mentor responses indicated “difficult” or “very difficult,”
compared to 2% (n=2) of the mentee responses (Figure 2). The Fisher's Exact
Test was performed to determine if the perspectives of mentors and mentees
significantly differed. The test resulted in a p-value of 0.543, which is
greater than the commonly used significance level of 0.05. Based on this
analysis, the perspectives of the two groups regarding the ease of
communication were not significantly different.
Figure 2
Perceptions of
ease of communication.
Figure 3
Perceptions of the mentoring relationship.
Mentoring Relationship
There were 106
responses from the mentors and 82 responses from the mentees that described
their mentoring relationships. Of these responses, 87% (n=71) of the mentees
indicated that their mentoring relationship was “very good” or “good,” compared
to 84% (n=88) of the mentors, while 13% (n=11) of the mentees described their
relationship as “fair,” “poor,” or “very poor,” compared to 17% (n=18) of the
mentors (Figure 3). Overall, it seemed that the mentees were more likely to
report a positive relationship than the mentors. However, Fisher's Exact Test
result indicated non-significant differences between the two groups (P = .203).
Helpfulness of Mentorship
In the survey
for mentees, they were asked how helpful the mentors had been in assisting
them. In the survey for mentors, the same question was reworded as how helpful
they had been in assisting their mentees. Of the 107 responses from mentors,
81% (n=86) indicated “very helpful” or “helpful” compared to 92% (n=75) of the
81 responses from mentees. Mentors (20%, n=21) were more likely to have a
neutral attitude, feel their support was “unhelpful” or “very unhelpful,”
compared to the mentees (7%, n=6) (Figure 4). Overall, the mentees showed a
great appreciation for the mentoring support they received; by contrast, the
mentors seemed to be modest when evaluating their own value in assisting their
mentees. The Fisher's Exact Test indicated a significant difference in
perceptions between the two groups (P
= .000).
Figure 4
Perceptions of
the helpfulness of mentorship.
Likeliness of Keeping in Contact
As the
mentorship program ran for only two months, the ViMLoC Mentorship Committee
suggested that mentors and mentees could continue to connect with each other
even after the program ended if they would like. There were 107 responses from
mentors and 80 responses from mentees submitted regarding how likely they would
be to keep in contact with their mentoring partner. Of these responses, 58%
(n=46) of the mentees were “very likely” to keep the relationship, much higher
than that of the mentors (30%, n=32). Compared to the mentees, more mentors
indicated “somewhat likely,” “neither likely nor unlikely,” “somewhat
unlikely,” and “very unlikely” (Figure 5). Overall, it seemed that the mentees
were more interested in maintaining ties with their mentors, while the mentors
were not as enthusiastic to do the same. Their perceptions were found to be
significantly different based on the Fisher's Exact Test
(P = .002).
Figure 5
Perceptions of
the likeliness of keeping in contact.
In addition,
Fisher's Exact Tests were conducted separately for mentors and mentees to
examine the associations between the four items: ease of communication,
mentoring relationship, helpfulness of mentorship, and likeliness of keeping in
contact. Statistically highly significant relationships were identified for
both mentors and mentees between any two of the above four elements (all P = .000). These results suggested that
those who felt it was easier to communicate with their mentoring partner were
more likely to report a good relationship and to feel that the mentors were
helpful in assisting mentees. The pairs who established a better relationship
were more likely to feel that the mentoring support was helpful. Easier
communication, building a better relationship, and the feeling that the
mentoring support was more helpful were all associated with a greater
likelihood of keeping in contact beyond the mentorship program.
Skills for Building a Successful Mentoring Relationship
When mentees were asked, “What skills do you think
would be important to build a successful relationship with the mentor?,” there
were 64 open-ended responses, while 62 mentors responded to their equivalent
question that asked, “What skills do you think would be important to build a
successful relationship with the mentee?” As presented in Table 2, respondents
described 24 important skills or elements, some identifying multiple elements
within their response. For example, a mentor’s open-ended response was,
“Patience and listening skills to determine needs from mentee. Sometimes they
don’t know what they need to know until they feel comfortable enough to open
up.” It was coded as “patience,” “listening,” and “openness.” The most common
answer amongst both groups was communication (mentees n=28, mentors n=22).
Another common response that ranked highly amongst both groups was some form of
open communication, sometimes characterized as being able to open up to the
other (mentees n=13, mentors n=10). In addition, setting goals or expectations
was important for the mentoring relationship, ranking within the top five most
common responses for both groups, with mentees indicating 10 times and mentors
indicating eight times. The rest of the responses had more fluctuation between
mentors and mentees with regard to rating. Honesty rated high amongst mentees
(n=11), but only five mentors included it in their response, however, both
ranked within the top 10 common responses. Both flexibility or adaptability
with scheduling meetings (mentees n=5, mentors n=6) and asking questions
(mentees n=6, mentors n=5) ranked within the top 10 responses amongst both
groups. In some cases, what mentors perceived as important, such as being a
good listener (n=16), being empathetic (n=10), being knowledgeable (n=6), being
respectful (n=5), and being encouraging (n=5) did not rank high with mentees.
Likewise, mentees perceived being organized (n=9), being friendly (n=6), being
willing to learn (n=5), and the frequency of meetings (n=5) to be important
when mentors did not rank them as highly. Both groups barely mentioned the
category of interpersonal skills, but they specified elements of it separately
such as communication.
Previous Mentorship Experiences and Intentions to Mentor
Associations of Past Mentorship Experience with ViMLoC Mentorship Experience
Of the 81
mentors, 58% (n=47) had been mentored by an LIS professional, formally or
informally before joining the ViMLoC mentorship program. Over one third (35%,
n=28) engaged in a formal mentorship program for the first time. To examine if
their previous mentorship experience would relate with their ViMLoC mentorship
experience, Fisher's Exact Tests were run to check the associations between
having prior mentee experience and the following three variables, one at a
time: ease of communication, mentoring relationship, and helpfulness of
mentorship. As shown in Table 3, no significant relationship was identified.
Having formal mentor experience before did not make a significant difference in
their present experience either.
Of the 81
mentees, 77% (n=62) indicated it was their first time participating in a formal
mentorship program. Having prior formal mentorship experience was not
significantly related with their perceptions of ease of communication,
mentoring relationship, and helpfulness of mentorship in the ViMLoC mentorship
program.
Associations of ViMLoC Mentorship Experience with Intentions to Mentor in the Future
For mentors,
feeling helpful in assisting their mentees in the ViMLoC mentorship program was
not significantly associated with how likely they would be to mentor again in
the future (Table 3). For mentees, however, helpfulness from the ViMLoC
mentorship experience would significantly increase the likelihood of becoming a
mentor in the future (P = .002).
Table 2
Skills
Considered Important for Building a Successful Mentoring Relationship
|
Response |
What skills do
you think would be important to build a successful relationship with the
mentee? Mentors (n=62) |
What skills do
you think would be important to build a successful relationship with the
mentor? Mentees (n=64) |
|
Communication |
22 |
28 |
|
Listening |
16 |
4 |
|
Openness |
10 |
13 |
|
Empathetic |
10 |
2 |
|
Setting
expectations/goals |
8 |
10 |
|
Knowledgeable |
6 |
3 |
|
Flexibility of
scheduling |
6 |
5 |
|
Honesty |
5 |
11 |
|
Respectful |
5 |
4 |
|
Encouraging |
5 |
2 |
|
Asking
questions |
5 |
6 |
|
Open-minded |
4 |
3 |
|
Curious |
4 |
1 |
|
Experienced |
4 |
1 |
|
Interpersonal
skills |
3 |
3 |
|
Patience |
3 |
0 |
|
Friendly |
3 |
6 |
|
Timely
responses |
3 |
2 |
|
Frequency of
interactions |
3 |
5 |
|
Being
organized/prepared |
3 |
9 |
|
Trust |
2 |
3 |
|
Positive attitude |
2 |
4 |
|
Willingness to
learn |
2 |
5 |
|
Acting
professionally |
1 |
1 |
Table 3
Associations
between Past, Present Mentoring Experience, and Future Intentions to Mentor
|
Indicators |
Mentors |
Mentees |
|
Having Prior
Mentee Experience & Ease of Communication |
P = .681 |
N/A |
|
Having Mentee
Experience & Relationship |
P = .680 |
N/A |
|
Having Mentee
Experience & Helpfulness of Mentorship |
P = .451 |
N/A |
|
Having Formal
Mentorship Experience & Ease of Communication |
P = .463 |
P = .399 |
|
Having Formal Mentorship
Experience & Relationship |
P = .485 |
P = .577 |
|
Having Formal
Mentorship Experience & Helpfulness of Mentorship |
P = .427 |
P = .325 |
|
Helpfulness of
Mentorship & Going to Mentor Again in the Future |
P = .063 |
N/A |
|
Helpfulness of
Mentorship & Going to Mentor in the Future |
N/A |
P = .002* |
Note:
P values from Fisher's Exact Tests. * Significant at 0.01 level
Importance of Having a Visible Minority Partner
When asked how
important it was to them that the mentoring partner was a visible minority, 75%
(n=81) of the 108 responses from mentors versus 83% (n=68) of the 82 responses
from mentees indicated “very important” or “important.” An equal share
indicated “moderately important,” both at 9%. More mentors 14% (n=16) than
mentees 8% (n=7) indicated “slightly important” or “not at all important”
(Figure 6). However, these differences in perspectives were not found to be
significant in the Fisher's Exact Test (p
= .633).
Figure 6
Perceptions of
the importance of having a visible minority partner.
Most Satisfying Aspects of the ViMLoC Mentorship Program
Both mentors
(n=51) and mentees (n=63) shared comments about what was the most satisfying
aspect of the ViMLoC mentorship program, many providing multiple aspects, which
provided great insights into the unique contributions that VM mentors could
make in supporting VM mentees. When coding the responses from the mentors, they
predominantly described the satisfaction of helping someone (n=25). When the
specific type of help was indicated, assistance with job hunting (n=4) and
advice about career development (n=4) were the most common, closely followed by
discussions about adjusting to the work culture (n=3) or helping the mentees
towards their goals (n=3). Many mentors remarked how they were able to connect
with someone new to expand their network (n=18). Another rewarding aspect that
was noted was the ability to share their experiences with others (n=10).
However, it was not just a one-way flow of experiences from mentors to mentees,
as seven mentors noted that they also learned something from the experience. For
example, one mentor mentioned that it was satisfying “[g]etting to understand
the perspectives of other new visible minority librarians. Hearing about their
accomplishments, as well as their challenges in the current library landscape
is eye opening.” Less frequently mentioned, but still notable was that the
mentors enjoyed providing the mentees with encouragement (n=6) and the ability
to give back (n=3), meaning they had also received similar professional support
and wanted to return the favor to someone else in the profession.
When mentees
shared what they thought was the most satisfying aspect, the ability to network
and make new connections with other library professionals was the most popular
response (n=32). The second most common response was related to the help they
received from the mentor (n=29). With most mentees being early on in their
library career, they needed more specific help with job hunting (n=8), career
guidance (n=4), and awareness of the work culture (n=4). Mentees appreciated
having their mentors share their experiences (n=19), with four saying that it
made them feel less alone and three that described how their mentors’
experiences were something they could role model. Touching upon many of these
aspects, one mentee disclosed that they “loved being able to connect and hear
from someone who was a visible minority in my desired profession. It can be
easy to feel a bit alone in this Caucasian-dominated field and I enjoyed
hearing my mentor share their experiences and how they navigate the workplace.”
Five mentees expressed their satisfaction with the encouragement they received
from their mentors and finally, three noted satisfaction with the mentorship
program itself and the comfort “[k]nowing that something like that exists.”
Within answers
from both mentors (n=12) and mentees (n=18) there were notable mentions about
being connected with someone who was also a visible minority and shared
experiences as visible minorities within the library profession. For example,
one mentor described that “[i]t’s a nice way to network with someone with
similar experiences and have conversations about being a visible minority
person in a workplace. I don’t see any other avenue where issues of being a
visible minority could be discussed in a professional setting.” Furthermore, a
mentee elaborated that they “have a Caucasian mentor through another program,
who I cannot talk to about anything related to race/identity as a visible
minority/immigrant. The most valuable part of the ViMLoC mentorship program was
the opportunity to connect with a fellow visible minority and ask questions
related to that.”
Discussion
Mentors and
mentees indicated that email and video chat were the most effective methods of
communication. This finding was in agreement with Binder et al. (2022) in which
mentors and mentees who interacted through web conferencing tended to report
higher satisfaction of their mentoring experiences, but against the result of
Jordan (2019) indicating that Skype or video chat was not as popular. The two
groups also reported the same top five areas of support activities. Likewise,
Harrington and Marshall (2014) found these five aspects were important
components of a mentoring relationship, which were categorized under career
guidance, psychosocial support, and role model. This could be associated with
the mentees’ career stages and their corresponding needs. More than half of the
mentees in the ViMLoC mentorship program were library school students. Their
questions were more frequently about librarians’ professional work and general
career preparation. In contrast, fewer questions were asked regarding promotion
and tenure, as well as research and scholarship activities that librarians put
on their professional development agenda years after entering the profession.
Moreover, the mentees did have concerns related to their VM identities. The
mentors who had similar racial backgrounds and experiences navigating the
Caucasian-dominated library landscape could provide comfort, encouragement, and
inspiration to the mentees.
The research
findings revealed that mentors and mentees significantly differed in how they
perceived the value of mentoring assistance. A higher proportion of mentees
found mentorship was helpful while a higher percentage of mentors felt their
assistance was unhelpful to mentees. The differences could be due to the fact
that 55% of the mentees in the mentorship program were library school students
and 26% were early career librarians. Without entering the library profession,
the student mentees typically needed guidance in career planning, job search,
and interview process. The mentors were all librarians who have gone through
the journey from library schools to the job market. They had the experience and
capacity to assist the mentees, thus making the mentees feel that it was
helpful. For the mentees who were early-career librarians, despite the
anonymity of the surveys, they might have been cautious about giving negative
feedback about someone in the profession, as they had not secured permanent
positions yet.
The mentors and
mentees also had significantly different perspectives regarding whether they
would like to keep in contact after the mentorship session ended. Mentees were
more likely to maintain the ties than mentors. They might have different
reasons for continuing the relationship beyond the program. Despite the
informal format, mentees could still benefit from the connection if the mentors
were willing to continue providing advice and support. As VMs are
underrepresented in the library world, the mentors would be invaluable
resources for the mentees to draw on in the future. For the mentors, some were
willing to connect again because they could learn and grow themselves while
supporting their mentees, or they found it personally rewarding to continue helping
mentees to succeed. Meanwhile, other commitments might hinder many mentors from
continuing the relationship. One respondent commented:
I had
a mentee with whom I had reviewed their resume and cover letter. I did not mind
doing this a few times during the mentorship. They asked me to review multiple
applications a few months after the mentorship ended and after our final wrap
up meeting. By this time, I had to let them know that I could only review their
application once more due to my other commitments.
The finding from
this research suggested that positive experiences from the ViMLoC mentorship
program would have a great impact on mentees’ intention to mentor in the
future. This could be explained by the “spillover effect” derived from the
benefits that the mentees received from the present mentoring relationship
(Ragins & Scandura, 1999). The act of being mentored creates more mentors,
which also seems to hold true according to the literature on VM mentorship.
When early-career minority librarians were surveyed, they described their
willingness to become a mentor in the future based on their positive
experiences as a mentee (Olivas & Ma, 2009). In practice, VM librarians in
higher education from Johnson’s (2016) dissertation benefited from their mentee
experience so that they actively sought out mentor opportunities “[i]n the
spirit of service to others” (p. 100). This is similar to Cho’s (2014) personal
experience; he described the help he received from VM mentors at his
institution when he was first starting his career and how he now participates
in mentorship programs for VM librarians as a rewarding way to give back.
Comparably, Boyd et al. (2017) found that residency programs could help develop
library leadership skills in VM librarians and in turn, they would likely go on
to recruit VMs to the profession and mentor early career VM librarians.
This research
has some implications for library associations and libraries seeking to support
VM library professionals within their own mentorship program. First, as the
findings indicated, the mentees who had positive experiences from the present
mentoring relationship were more likely to mentor others. Therefore, mentorship
program managers need to take a proactive role in improving the mentee
experience so that more mentees can become mentors to support others. This may
strengthen the pipeline for greater recruitment and retention among VM
librarians.
Second, the
research results showed that previous mentorship experience for both mentors
and mentees did not make significant differences in how they communicated and
built relationships in the present program. Hence, regardless of their
mentorship experience level, it is essential to give participants some guidance
at the start of the mentorship session to ensure that they all are on the same
page. Based on our open-ended question about the skills that would be important
to build a successful relationship with a mentee/mentor, future mentoring
programs for VM librarians should focus on supporting communication skills,
especially through encouraging people to open up. This is especially important
with VM groups within the profession since it can ease some of the negative
experiences from the workplace such as isolation and microaggressions.
Furthermore, they should ensure that mentors and mentees can clearly articulate
their goals or expectations and formulate good questions to ask each other to
gain a beneficial experience for the mentoring pairs.
Third, various
approaches could be taken to facilitate the mentoring relationship. The ViMLoC
Mentorship Committee provided guidelines to each participant. However, due to
the dynamic nature of each mentoring pair and their relationship, those
guidelines could not be used to resolve some issues that occurred. The
Committee’s timely intervention was necessary when issues came up. Examples of
issues included: communication being lost or delayed due to scheduling
difficulties from being in different time zones or being unable to fit the
meetings into respective schedules; mentees not showing much interest in
interacting, being uncommunicative, or not having clear expectations of the
program; mentors feeling it was hard to build a relationship within two months,
or being unable to answer questions outside their field of work. Although the
Committee could not intervene in all problems; they took various approaches to
help smooth things out when possible. For instance, they sent out two check-in
emails (one for all the mentees and the other one for all the mentors) after
the mentoring session was launched to make sure the pairs had connected with
each other and started a conversation. They helped mentees to find an
alternative mentor if the mentee did not find that the mentor was a good match.
When there was not a good fit from the pool of mentors, an informal mentor was
sought out and recommended to the mentee to connect with. When tensions
occurred between a mentoring pair and they reached out to the Committee, the
committee members held one-on-one meetings with individuals in an attempt to
gather more information, to understand their respective expectations and
concerns, and to facilitate the mentoring pair’s mutual understanding and
communication. It is important that “if a pairing is not compatible or causes
harm, then allow the pair to disengage with dignity” (Burke & Tumbleson,
2019, p. 12), and reassign the mentee to a mentor with a better fit whenever
possible (Goodsett & Walsh, 2015).
Limitations
First,
demographic information of the mentorship program participants, such as
ethnicity, geographic location, work experience, and the type of library they
work at, was gathered in the program application forms, however, such
information was not collected again in the surveys. As the surveys were
anonymous, there was no way of linking the survey respondents with their
applications. Hence, survey respondents’ mentorship experiences could not be
examined based on their demographic characteristics.
Second, as the
completion rate of the mentees was 15% lower than that of the mentors, it was
possible that some mentees who had negative experiences chose not to fill out
the surveys, and as a result, their experiences might not be reflected in this
research.
Third, this
research was based on the data gathered from the four mentoring sessions over
2018-2022. Except in 2018, the mentoring sessions occurred during the COVID-19
pandemic. This context could have affected the mentorship experiences of survey
respondents. For instance, communication became more difficult and might have
affected relationship building negatively due to the pandemic. Further research
efforts can seek to examine more sessions beyond the pandemic.
Conclusion
There are
numerous studies on mentorship within the library profession as a whole.
Research on mentorship for VM is increasing as mentoring support has been
perceived to be beneficial to VM mentees individually and to the
diversification of the library profession. This study contributed to the
literature through an empirical research method and comparative analyses of the
experiences between mentors and mentees in the ViMLoC mentorship program.
Statistically significant differences were identified between the two groups.
Mentoring support was perceived to be more helpful by the mentees than by the
mentors. The mentees were more likely to keep in contact with their mentors
beyond the mentorship program, while the mentors did not show as much interest.
A positive experience in the present mentoring relationship would increase the
intention of mentees to mentor others in the future, whereas the same effect
did not hold true for the mentors. On the other hand, some findings were shared
by both mentors and mentees, including the belief that effective communication
would facilitate a good mentoring relationship, which in turn, would lead to
positive outcomes and greater likelihood of keeping in contact beyond the
mentoring program. Mentor and mentee responses indicated they both agreed on
the most important areas of mentoring support and some essential skills for
building a successful mentoring relationship. In addition to contributing to
the librarianship literature, the practical implications of this research are profound
as there are very few mentorship programs characterized by VMs mentoring VMs.
The experiences shared in this research will be helpful to library associations
and libraries who are interested in operating a mentorship program for VM
library professionals.
Author Contributions
Yanli Li:
Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Quantitative
Analysis, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review &
editing Valentina Ly: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology,
Qualitative Analysis, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing Xuemei
Li: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original
draft, Writing – review & editing
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Appendix
A
Survey Questionnaire
2022 for Mentors (with One Mentee)
Q1 Thank you for
participating in this survey! We would like to hear your feedback on the 2022
ViMLoC Mentorship Program so that we can continue to improve it. Please look
over the Informed Consent Letter before proceeding.
o I
have read and understand the above information. I agree to participate in this
study.
o I
have read and understand the above information. I do not want to participate in
this study.
Q2 How did you hear about
the ViMLoC Mentorship Program? (Please select all that apply)
o
ViMLoC group
o
School
o
Conference
o
Colleague
o
Social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
o
Friend
o
Contacted by the ViMLoC Mentorship Committee
o
Other
Q3 What are your reasons for participating as
a mentor in the ViMLoC Mentorship Program? (Please select all that apply)
o Professional development
o Promotion
o Meeting requirements for tenure
o Passion for helping others
o Networking
o Sharing experience
o Other
Communication:
How many times have you used the methods
below to communicate with your mentee:
Q4 E-mail (you sent to the mentee): 0, 1, 2 …9, 10 and above
Q5 Online chat/instant messenger: 0, 1, 2 …9,
10 and above
Q6 Skype or video chat: 0, 1, 2 …9, 10 and
above
Q7 In person: 0, 1, 2 …9, 10 and above
Q8 Telephone: 0, 1, 2 …9, 10 and above
Q9 What was the most effective method of
communication?
o Email
o Online chat/instant messenger
o Skype or video chat
o In person
o Telephone
o Other (please specify) ____________
Interactions:
Q10 In your early
contacts with your mentee, did they discuss their mentorship program
expectations with you?
o Yes
o No
Q11 How important was it to you that the
mentee was a visible minority?
o Very important
o Important
o Moderately important
o Slightly important
o Not at all important
Q12 Did you discuss any experiences about
being a visible minority in the profession with your mentee?
o Yes
o No
Q13 How easy was communication with your
mentee?
o Very easy
o Easy
o Moderately easy
o Difficult
o Very difficult
Q14 How would you describe your relationship
with your mentee?
o Very good
o Good
o Fair
o Poor
o Very poor
Q15 How likely are you to keep in contact with
your mentee after the program ends?
o Very likely
o Somewhat likely
o Neither likely nor
unlikely
o Somewhat unlikely
o Very unlikely
Q16 How helpful do you think you were in
assisting the mentee?
o Very helpful
o Helpful
o Neither helpful nor
unhelpful
o Unhelpful
o Very unhelpful
Q17 What aspects did you help your mentee
with? (check all that apply)
o provide encouragement
o provide career counseling
o help with job seeking skills (cover letter,
resume, interview, etc.)
o assist with networking
o help with setting mentee's professional goals
o share own professional experience with the
mentee
o share experience about the day to day work
life
o help with orientation to library culture and
workplace expectations
o advise on how to adapt in an organization as
a visible minority
o address the mentee's professional concerns
o provide knowledge of a discipline or subject
area
o assist with research and scholarship (grant
writing, research methods, etc.)
o assist with promotion and tenure (preparation
of materials, procedure, criteria, etc.)
o share experience or improve skills in
instruction
o share experience or improve skills in
collection management
o share experience or improve skills in
reference services
o share experience or improve skills in
leadership
o share experience or improve skills in
community involvement or outreach
o share experience or improve skills in
technology-related library work
o Other
Mentorship Experience:
Q18 In the past, were you
ever mentored by an LIS professional, formally or informally?
o Yes
o No
Q19 Is this your first
experience as a mentor through a formal mentorship program?
o Yes
o No
Q20 Based on this experience, how likely would
you be to mentor again in the future?
o Very likely
o Somewhat likely
o Neither likely nor
unlikely
o Somewhat unlikely
o Very unlikely
Q21 What skills do you think would be
important to build a successful relationship with the mentee?
___________________________________
ViMLoC Mentorship Program
Assessment:
Q22 What has been the
most satisfying aspect about the ViMLoC Mentorship Program?
________________________________________________________________
Q23 What has been the
least satisfying aspect about the ViMLoC Mentorship Program?
________________________________________________________________
Q24 How did you feel
about the level of interaction commitment required (two interactions a month)
for the ViMLoC Mentorship Program?
o Too much
o About right
o Too little
Q25 What would you suggest to improve the
ViMLoC Mentorship Program?________
Appendix B
Survey Questionnaire
2022 for Mentees
Q1 Thank you for
participating in this survey! We would like to hear your feedback on the 2022
ViMLoC Mentorship Program so that we can continue to improve it. Please look
over the Informed Consent Letter before proceeding.
o I have read and understand
the above information. I agree to participate in this study.
o I have read and
understand the above information. I do not want to participate in this study.
Q2 How did you hear about
the ViMLoC Mentorship Program? (Please select all that apply)
o
ViMLoC group
o
School
o
Conference
o
Colleague
o
Social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)
o
Friend
o
Contacted by the ViMLoC Mentorship Committee
o
Other
Q3 What are your reasons
for participating as a mentee in the ViMLoC Mentorship Program? (Please select
all that apply)
o Knowing more about the
profession
o Seeking guidance in
career direction
o Moving up in your
career
o Seeking advice on how
to transfer skills obtained from your home country
o Learning about the
skills and qualifications needed for a librarian-related job
o Networking
o Learning about how to
adapt in an organization as a visible minority
o Other
Communication:
How many times have you used the methods below
to communicate with your mentor:
Q4 E-mail (you sent to the mentor): 0, 1, 2 …9,
10 and above
Q5 Online chat/instant
messenger: 0, 1, 2 …9, 10 and above
Q6 Skype or video chat: 0, 1, 2 …9, 10 and
above
Q7 In person: 0, 1, 2 …9,
10 and above
Q8 Telephone: 0, 1, 2 …9,
10 and above
Q9 What was the most
effective method of communication?
o Email
o Online chat/instant
messenger
o Skype or video chat
o In person
o Telephone
o Other (please specify)
__________
Interactions:
Q10 In your early
contacts with your mentor, did you discuss your mentorship program
expectations?
o Yes
o No
Q11 How important was it
to you that the mentor was a visible minority?
o Very important
o Important
o Moderately important
o Slightly important
o Not at all important
Q12 Did you and your
mentor discuss any issues or experiences about being a visible minority in the
profession?
o Yes
o No
Q13 How easy was
communication with your mentor?
o Very easy
o Easy
o Moderately easy
o Difficult
o Very difficult
Q14 How would you
describe your relationship with your mentor?
o Very good
o Good
o Fair
o Poor
o Very poor
Q15 How likely are you to
keep in contact with your mentor after the program ends?
o Very likely
o Somewhat likely
o Neither likely nor
unlikely
o Somewhat unlikely
o Very unlikely
Q16 How helpful was your
mentor in providing assistance?
o Very helpful
o Somewhat helpful
o Neither helpful nor
unhelpful
o Somewhat unhelpful
o Very unhelpful
Q17 What aspects did your
mentor help you with? (check all that apply)
o provide encouragement
o provide career
counseling
o help with job seeking
skills (cover letter, resume, interview, etc.)
o assist with networking
o help with setting your
professional goals
o share own professional
experience with you
o share experience about
the day to day work life
o help with orientation
to library culture and workplace expectations
o advise on how to adapt
in an organization as a visible minority
o address your
professional concerns
o provide knowledge of a
discipline or subject area
o assist with research
and scholarship (grant writing, research methods, etc.)
o assist with promotion
and tenure (preparation of materials, procedure, criteria, etc.)
o share experience or
improve skills in instruction
o share experience or
improve skills in collection management
o share experience or
improve skills in reference services
o share experience or
improve skills in leadership
o share experience or
improve skills in community involvement or outreach
o share experience or
improve skills in technology-related library work
o other
Mentorship Experience:
Q18 Is this your first
experience as a mentee through a formal mentorship program?
o Yes
o No
Q19 Based on this
experience, how likely would you be to mentor in the future?
o Very likely
o Somewhat Likely
o Neither likely nor
unlikely
o Somewhat unlikely
o Very unlikely
Q20 What skills do you
think would be important to build a successful relationship with the
mentor?___________
ViMLoC Mentorship Program
assessment:
Q21 What has been the
most satisfying aspect about the ViMLoC Mentorship Program?____
Q22 What has been the
least satisfying aspect about the ViMLoC Mentorship Program?___
Q23 How did you feel
about the level of interaction commitment required (two interactions a month)
for the ViMLoC Mentorship Program?
o Too much
o About right
o Too little
Q24 Overall, do you feel
the ViMLoC Mentorship Program has met your expectations?
o Strongly agree
o Somewhat agree
o Neither agree nor
disagree
o Somewhat disagree
o Strongly disagree
Q25 What would you
suggest to improve the ViMLoC Mentorship Program?___________